My Look Back on 9/11

It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since that tragic day in history. This day is one day I shall never forget as it is almost minute by minute ingrained in my memory. I was out in Exton, PA working for the week and had been there only two days. Just moments before - a co-worker who had just flown in the night before from NYC was showing me picture of the sun rise between the WTC towers taken from his hotel room. About that time we learned the first plane had hit.

The net was down and a few hours later - all communication (cell and landlines) were dead! I was only three hours away, but close enough they cut off all communication. I could not call home, or check on co-workers who were in NYC working at Goldman Sacs. We rigged a tv a co-worker ran home to get and watched the first tower come down. Stunned we watched for the next several hours not knowing what to say, or how to react.

As odd as it is - I have a connection to every event of that day and as far as I know - I'm the only one. All of this would come together over the next few days. A family from a ward I grew up in was returning from vacation from Portland, Maine and my friend Rick was sitting next to Mohammad Atta until they arrived in Boston where her boarded (Atta that is) the flight he would then pilot into the WTC.

The other plane to strike the WTC had a family on it that had Utah ties. They had just dropped off one of their twin daughters in Nauvoo, IL for a BYU study program and was roommates with one of the families from my mission that I kept in touch with. The mother and grandmother were returning back west from dropping the other twin off at school on the East coast.

My very first ward mission leader was a lawyer in the WTC as well as several of the clients of the company I worked for. All of whom were safe and survived that day.

Also a friend at the time lost her best friends mother who worked in the Pentegon and I ended up driving (because I couldn't fly home) back to CO and drove through Shanksville, PA where the last plane crashed on that day.

Needless to say - it is a day and week I shall never forget. I hope the war we have waged since has been worth the sacrifice of all lives lost. We can only pray that peace will prevail and one day we shall again be able to move freely without fear of someone attacking us. The events of this day seven years ago will always burn and be alive in my memory. I pray that the families of those effected by this day have been able to heal and move on and hang tight to the memories of their loved ones.

Each of us has our own story of this day and this is just a small part of mine. Until next time.

Cheers,
Ian